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This is an illuminated and illustrated Safavid copy of four of the five poems that comprise the Khamsah (quintet) of Niẓāmī
Ganjavī (d. 605 AH / 1209 CE). It does not include Laylá va Majnūn. The text was copied in black nastaʿlīq script by Yādkār
the Calligrapher (al-Kātib) in 935 AH / 1529 CE. An illuminated double-page frontispiece opens the codex (fols. 1b-2a), and
each poem is introduced with an illuminated headpiece (fols. 33b, 119b, 180b, and 261b). The twenty-seven illustrations appear
to have been repainted in India during the twelfth or early thirteenth century AH / eighteenth or early nineteenth CE. The
manuscript is bound in late Zand lacquer boards with figural scenes depicting Bahrām Gūr hunting and Khusraw watching Shīrīn
bathing. The upper board illustrating Bahrām Gūr is dated 12[0]5 AH / 1790-1 CE.

Label: This late Zand lacquer binding depicts Bahrām Gūr hunting and Fitnah carrying a cow on her shoulders. It is dated 12[0]5 AH
/ 1790-1 CE. The lacquer boards were made in Iran during the Zand period.

fol. 1b:

Title: Double-page illuminated frontispiece

Form: Frontispiece

Text: Makhzan-i asrār

Label: This is the right side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece inscribed with the title of the first poem of the Khamsah,
Makhzan-i asrār.

fol. 2a:

Title: Double-page illuminated frontispiece

Form: Frontispiece

Text: Makhzan-i asrār

Label: This is the left side of a double-page illuminated frontispiece inscribed with the title of the first poem of the Khamsah,
Makhzan-i asrār.

fol. 4b:

Title: The Prophet Muhammad's ascension

Form: Illustration

Text: Makhzān al-asrār

Label: The Prophet Muhammad is depicted on Buraq, led by the angel Gabriel ascending to the heavens.

fol. 15a:

Title: Nūshirvān and his prime minster Dastūr

Form: Illustration

Text: Makhzān al-asrār

Label: Riding through a ruined village, the Sasanian Nūshirvān and his prime minster Dastūr see two owls talking.

fol. 17a:

Title: An old woman implores Sultan Sanjar for help

Form: Illustration

Text: Makhzān al-asrār

Label: An old woman approaches the throne of Sultan Sanjar to recount her oppression.

fol. 26a:

Title: An old man brought before a tyrant

Form: Illustration

Text: Makhzān al-asrār

fol. 29b:

Title: An old woman speaking with a confidant of King Jamshīd

Form: Illustration

Text: Makhzān al-asrār

Label: At a court gathering, an old woman speaks with a confidant of King Jamshīd.

fol. 33b:

Title: Incipit with illuminated headpiece

Form: Incipit; headpiece

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

Label: This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece; it begins the second poem of the Khamsah, Khusraw va Shīrīn.

fol. 37a:

Title: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad Atābak enthroned

Form: Illustration

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 45b:

Title: Shāhpūr visiting Shīrīn

Form: Illustration

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

Label: Shāhpūr is shown before the Armenian princess Shīrīn at a court gathering.

fol. 62b:

Title: Ascension of Khusraw to the throne

Form: Illustration

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 68a:

Title: Khusraw and Shīrīn enthroned

Form: Illustration

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 78b:

Title: Farhād carves an image of Shīrīn in rock

Form: Illustration

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 86a:

Title: Khusraw announces his marriage to Shakar

Form: Illustration

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 93a:

Title: Khusraw and Shīrīn in the palace

Form: Illustration

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 104b:

Title: Reconciliation of Khusraw and Shīrīn

Form: Illsutration

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 110a:

Title: Shīrūyah stabs Khusraw, his father

Form: Illustration

Text: Khusraw va Shīrīn

fol. 119b:

Title: Incipit with illuminated headpiece

Form: Incipit; headpiece

Text: Haft paykar

Label: This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece; it begins the fourth poem of the Khamsah, Haft paykar.

fol. 134b:

Title: Bahrām Gūr seizes the crown after having killed two lions

Form: Illustration

Text: Haft paykar

fol. 136b:

Title: Bahrām Gūr kills a wild ass

Form: Illustration

Text: Haft paykar

fol. 145b:

Title: Bahrām Gūr in the black pavilion

Form: Illustration

Text: Haft paykar

fol. 154a:

Title: Bahrām Gūr in the yellow pavilion

Form: Illustration

Text: Haft paykar

fol. 160a:

Title: Bahrām Gūr in the blue pavilion

Form: Illustration

Text: Haft paykar

fol. 165a:

Title: Bahrām Gūr in the sandalwood pavilion

Form: Illustration

Text: Haft paykar

fol. 168a:

Title: Bahrām Gūr in the white pavilion

Form: Illustration

Text: Haft paykar

fol. 180b:

Title: Incipit with illuminated headpiece

Form: Incipit; headpiece

Text: Iskandarnāmah

Label: This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece; it begins the Sharafnāmah, the first part of the fifth poem of the Khamsah,
the Iskandarnāmah.

fol. 193b:

Title: Alexander the Great fighting the Ethiopians

Form: Illustration

Text: Iskandarnāmah

fol. 197b:

Title: Victory of Alexander the Great over the Ethiopians

Form: Illustration

Text: Iskandarnāmah

fol. 210b:

Title: Death of King Darius

Form: Illustration

Text: Iskandarnāmah

fol. 223b:

Title: Alexander the Great admires his portrait ordered by Queen Nūshābah

Form: Illustration

Text: Iskandarnāmah

fol. 258b:

Title: Alexander the Great at the fountain of life with the prophets Khiḍr and Ilyās

Form: Illustration

Text: Iskandarnāmah

Label: Alexander the Great (Iskandar) searches for the fountain of life and passes by a cave, before which sit the prophets Khiḍr
and Ilyās.

fol. 261b:

Title: Incipit with illuminated headpiece

Form: Incipit; headpiece

Text: Iskandarnāmah

Label: This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece; it begins the Iqbālnāmah, the second part of the fifth poem of the Khamsah,
the Iskandarnāmah.

fol. 268b:

Title: Aristotle teaching his students

Form: Illustration

Text: Iskandarnāmah

Lower board outside:

Title: Late Zand lacquer binding

Form: Binding

Label: This late Zand lacquer binding depicts Khusraw watching Shīrīn bathing. It was made in Iran during the Zand period. (The upper
board is dated 12[0]5 AH / 1790-1 CE.)

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode.
It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of
manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.